The governor was a no-show, but Marsha Strickhouser got to meet auto racing legend Bobby Rahal (left) and his son, IndyCar driver Graham Rahal.
BY ALYSSA MILES
NNB Student Reporter
ST. PETERSBURG— The excitement was palpable when the staff of Gov. Rick Scott phoned Marsha Strickhouser, the public relations manager for Valpak, to arrange a press conference March 26 at the company’s manufacturing center.
The governor needed a place to discuss job creation and local tourism.
Company executives rearranged schedules to accommodate the governor’s request. Walkthroughs of the facility were conducted to run through logistics, and meeting rooms were cleared for the governor’s use.
Five days later, the team was crestfallen when the governor decided to cancel.
The day was not a total loss, however. IndyCar driver Graham Rahal and his father, racing legend Bobby Rahal, arrived at Valpak to meet employees and tour the facility.
Rahal was in town for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, and Valpak had just announced the continuation of its sponsorship of Rahal and his team, RLL Racing.
Michael Vivio, president of Valpak owner Cox Target Media, spent the afternoon with the racers and employees displaying the ins and outs of the robotic manufacturing plant.
“You have to expect the worst and hope for the best,” Strickhouser said afterward with a laugh. “In the end, things fell into place. And it all looked easy.”
It was just another day for Strickhouser, 53, who has been with Valpak – the coupon company responsible for the iconic blue envelope – for seven years.
Public relations “is not just promotions,” she said. “That’s only one thing I do.”
Strickhouser said she is “a sales person for (the) company,” directing partnerships, pitching spots and building relationships with spokespeople, brands and company executives.
In addition to crafting press releases, she must research, collect data and participate in “good old-fashioned communication.”
“Once you’ve written a press release, that’s only half the battle,” Strickhouser said.
“There is a strategy behind every release,” she said. “You can’t just throw stuff out there.” You have to be targeted with your pitching until someone finds a news angle relevant to them. “It’s amazing when things come to fruition,” she said.
Graham Rahal snaps a photo of some of the robotic packaging process at Valpak, where Strickhouser has managed public relations for seven years.
Inspired by the journalists of the Watergate era, Strickhouser attended the University of Miami, where she received a bachelor’s degree in mass communications/journalism and worked on the school newspaper.
The student journalists “rubbed elbows with the real journalists” at the Miami Herald and the Miami News when they went to the Herald building in downtown Miami to design and print their paper, she said. “Basically that meant we rode the elevator with them and hoped we would run into someone who had a byline.”
When she graduated, Strickhouser landed a public relations job with the Dade County Medical Association, then returned to the university in 1992 to become a media relations specialist for the UM School of Medicine.
During her four years at UM, Hurricane Andrew devastated much of the region. She pitched stories on the psychology and nursing departments and their outreach to the community.
In 1999, Strickhouser became a media relations coordinator for the University of South Florida, where she faced one of the biggest challenges of her career, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
At the time, USF was home to the International Traumatology Institute headed by J. Eric Gentry and Michael Rank. The institute offered counseling and help to those in need at the university following the attacks and hosted a community forum.
“In the days and weeks after 9/11, half of me wanted to stay home and never go to work again,” Strickhouser said. “But the other half was thankful that USF could bring important information to the community and actually help people not only understand, but heal.”
The time of healing was cut short by allegations that USF engineering professor Sami Al-Arian had provided aid and support to the Palestine Islamic Jihad, an organization designated as “terrorist” by the National Counterterrorism Center.
The allegations were a “huge ordeal” for the media relations team, said Strickhouser. The university received bomb threats and dealt with rumors that people on campus had celebrated the destruction of the Twin Towers – rumors that were “never documented,” said Strickhouser.
Al-Arian’s fate “wasn’t up to us,” Strickhouser said. The allegations were being investigated as a matter of national security, forcing the media relations team to remain mum on the subject.
Strickhouser said “it’s important to be passionate about what you do,” whether it’s public relations, TV hosting, overseeing a company, or coupons.
At Valpak, “we aren’t savings lives,” she said, “but we are saving people money and helping them live better lives.”